tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69351422024-03-08T01:42:26.597+07:00Pip-squeak<:3)~*Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.comBlogger628125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-73564120273926965402014-05-05T12:16:00.001+07:002014-05-05T12:16:49.007+07:00RIP pak Muridan and the state of our regional autonomy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://statik.tempo.co/data/2014/03/07/id_269915/269915_620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://statik.tempo.co/data/2014/03/07/id_269915/269915_620.jpg" height="114" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of Tempo</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess I was too preoccupied on my life that I totally missed the passing away of <a href="http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2014/03/07/079560384/Muridan-Satrio-Widjojo-Tokoh-LIPI-Meninggal-Dunia" target="_blank">Muridan Widjojo</a>, one of Indonesia's finest researcher, specifically on regional autonomy in Papua. I remember writing this <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/review-failed-policy-of-regional-autonomy-behind-papua-crisis/" target="_blank">two </a><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/after-a-decade-of-autonomy-papua-remains-on-edge/" target="_blank">analysis </a>on regional autonomy in Papua (and oh how it has failed miserably) while clutching his book: the Papua Road Map, close to my heart.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.obor.or.id/img/buku/isbn04012010_98998.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.obor.or.id/img/buku/isbn04012010_98998.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.obor.or.id/bukus/view/711/baru" target="_blank">Yayasan Obor Indonesia</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/886222889?book_show_action=true&page=1" target="_blank">reviewer </a>in Goodreads likened this book to a "social science 'bible'", which is true. Muridan closely dissected the history and politics in Papua, a rare feat, considering the effort and resource he must have spent to complete his work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remembered that Muridan was very helpful during my own writing process. He even texted me when the story was finally put on print. And I took it as a major compliment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Papua is like a black hole of state money compared to other "wasteful" regional administrations. Indonesian government spent </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Rp 28.1 trillion ($3.1 billion) in total between 2002 and 2010.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that is just Papua. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X14000096" target="_blank">A more recent study</a> has brought to light the severity of overspending in local governments.</span><br />
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<br />Thanks to the regional autonomy law that was issued in 1999 regions across the country are entitled to directly receive money from the state budget. In Indonesia this means as much as 40%. Indonesia has a state budget of RP 1,842.5 trillion in 2014, 592.6 trillion allocated for regional governments (32%). Indonesian Min. of Finance has a nice infographic <a href="http://www.kemenkeu.go.id/Page/infografis-apbn-2014" target="_blank">here</a>. (It kinda bugged me that the source link for it has the name 'advertorial' on it... huh?)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kemenkeu.go.id/sites/default/files/Advertorial-APBN-2014_page1web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.kemenkeu.go.id/sites/default/files/Advertorial-APBN-2014_page1web.jpg" height="200" width="122" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of Ind. Min. of Finance</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />What are the money for? Well according to the study, in average the highest fund still went to education (34%). Government "administration " however 30%, much higher than infrastructure (15%).<br />
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Compared them to US and UK, of which both received 3%, as well as Norway and Tanzania with 8% and 13%, respectively, ours does sound like a whopping lot.<br />
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The report mentioned lack of political accountability at the grassroots level responsible for the excessive spending.
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“We regard administrative overspending as a manifestation of poor governance and thus, a lack of accountability at the local level,” it said.<br />
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Two proxies were used to test the “accountability level”: literacy rate and the direct election of district heads.<br />
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On the first proxy their findings showed that there was “weak evidence” that a population’s education level correlates to the region’s administrative expenditure, while of the latter the report said, “[It] did not have a significantly favorable effect on administrative spending for the entire sample.”<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ameliaday.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/belanja.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ameliaday.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/belanja.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://ameliaday.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/keuangan-daerah/" target="_blank">Ameliaday</a></td></tr>
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The revised decentralization law on regional autonomy which was issued in 2004 mandated that heads of local governments should be directly elected by the local population in order to increase electoral accountability at the local levels and thus improve local governance.<br />
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However, with the high effective barriers to entry and costly nominations, candidacy is limited to the local elites and major political parties.<br />
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“Despite these electoral reforms, rent-seeking behavior continued,” the report added.<br />
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Following the implementation of the 1999 regional autonomy law, Indonesia has seen an explosion of new districts. From 336 in 2001 the number almost doubled to 530 by end of 2013. Despite of a “moratorium” issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono three years before, the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) has already agreed in October last year to discuss a draft bill for the establishment of 65 new regional autonomies, justifying their decision based on “the people’s aspiration”.<br />
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“In principle, the proliferation of districts could be regarded as an enhancement of the homogeneity of the population within a district, allowing a better matching of public services with the preferences of the population,” the report said.<br />
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However, it also comes with a warning. When goes unchecked, it could become a vehicle for “rent-seeking local elites rather than a strive to enhance” government efficiency.<br />
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The establishment of new districts entailed large set-up costs for the new administration. However, using statistical models the researchers found that the setting up of new districts does not immediately explain the high administrative per capita expenditures.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc9qvyHnXwTaCbImDfy5uhs9tFEctj9uNabxA6wi6oQbGmQyZ9rE4thJNw4qLJs4eXDMDJkpssvwgvEQc5X4rs8wNs_xmGLwGYml5rqtLod0HSr6kofcrFlQp3rHPX5es4DLaJIg/s320/perkembangan-pemekaran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc9qvyHnXwTaCbImDfy5uhs9tFEctj9uNabxA6wi6oQbGmQyZ9rE4thJNw4qLJs4eXDMDJkpssvwgvEQc5X4rs8wNs_xmGLwGYml5rqtLod0HSr6kofcrFlQp3rHPX5es4DLaJIg/s320/perkembangan-pemekaran.jpg" height="200" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://keith-travelsinindonesia.blogspot.com/2011/11/modifiable-areal-unit-problem-and.html" target="_blank">Geografika Nusantara</a></td></tr>
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“The creation of new districts has led to a temporary shift in the sub-components of administrative spending but not to a sustained higher administrative spending per capita,” the report said. “[This left] the overall administrative expenditures rather unchanged in per capita terms.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The researchers also mentioned their qualitative approach in finding clues regarding regional budget misappropriations through web searches in popular news portals such as Kompas.com and detik.com it was not statistically correlative as regions farther from Jakarta received less media attention. There is however another statement made by our Minister of Home Affairs </span><a href="http://www.hukumonline.com/berita/baca/lt53591abb22d56/kasus-korupsi-e-ktp-ujian-permendagri-12" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">last month</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> saying that more than half of Indonesia's district heads (320) have "legal troubles"</span><br />
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The research also looked into relative importance of political factors such as party concentration and composition of the local parliaments at 197 districts within their dataset that did not split up over the research’s time frame. </span><br />
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“In districts with little political competition, as measured by party concentration or the existence of a dominant party in the local parliament, the waste of public resources is even worse,” the report said. </span><br />
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It also found that regions with a higher vote share for Golkar, the dominant party in the “New Order” era, is significantly associated with higher administrative spending. </span><br />
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However, the report refused to label decentralization and regional autonomy as failed policies, as the system has just put into place just a little more than a decade. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Even if our results may disappoint hopes for rapid improvement of governance quality through decentralization and democratization, […] it may be too early to hand down the final verdict on the success or failure of these reforms,” it concluded. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going back to Papua, Muridan noted that all things began to spiral downward when the Papuan governor failed to involve the actual parties in conflict </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> when drafting the special autonomy (Otsus) bill. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It was written by people from NGOs and Papuan academics", instead of pro-Independence groups sitting together with the Indonesian government.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We may also ask the same for other regions, has their representatives been really listening to the people's plight? (I can hear a loud NO somewhere). But yeah, one can always hope, right?</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-58663753991594423302014-04-29T11:36:00.002+07:002014-04-29T11:37:15.803+07:00Remember Cikeusik?I found recent stories of Islamic organisations launching <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/calls-jihad-purges-emerge-hate-filled-anti-shiite-gathering/" target="_blank">hate campaigns</a> against Shia moslems very disturbing. A quick google search on <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=anti+syiah" target="_blank">Anti Syiah</a> came up with links to websites, blogs and facebook groups declaring "war" against the Shiite people. The feeling of hatred is familiar. It is almost similar to the ones incited towards Indonesian Ahmadis culminating with the massacre in Cikeusik in 2011. I was re-reading my original draft and decided to post it here. All 2,500 words of it. the edited version can be found <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/survivors-recount-violence-in-cikeusik/441269">here</a>.<br />
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The opening trial for 12 men, part of around 1,500 lynch mob who killed 3 Ahmadis last February in Cikeusik, Banten, are facing charges at the Serang District Court. Now moving to its fourth week, the panel of judges will start hearing testimonies from witnesses. <br />
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Footages of the attack are still available on YouTube, in which semi-naked bodies of two men, later identified as Roni Pasaroni and Warsono from North Jakarta, were brutally pelted with stones. The perpetrators could face between 12 years in jail and death if convicted.<br />
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The Globe met with survivors of the attack Ahmad Masihuddin, 24, and Irwan, 29. <br />
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Masihuddin's survival could be attributed to his knowledge on martial arts. The Police had pronounced him dead when his muddy naked body was thrown into a police truck.<br />
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“I was dragged 500 meters by these people, along the way they beat me up with rocks, bamboo poles, and slashed me with their machetes, I lost consciousness and I thought I was dead already,” he told the Globe.<br />
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Irwan was deeply traumatized by the attack and almost refused to talk about the incident. Until now he has refused to be interrogated by the Police.<br />
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<b>‘We were told it was only a demonstration’</b><br />
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Irwan and Masihuddin went to Cikeusik separately on Saturday night. <br />
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“I was at our regular Koran recital meeting in Petojo [Central Jakarta], Roni came to me and asked if I wanted to go with him to Cikeusik. I asked him what for, he told me to guard a demonstration,” he said.<br />
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Aroun 10 p.m., Irwan, Roni, and Warsono were picked up by Deden Sujana, head of security of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI). Deden almost lost his right arm when he used it to parry with a machete. He was later named as suspect under the allegation of triggering the attack.<br />
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Separately, Mashuddin was at his home in Kali Deres, West Jakarta, when he received a text message right before midnight from Eki.<br />
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“He’s on holiday and asked me to replace him to guard an Ahmadiyah asset in Cikeusik. Without thinking it over I agreed,” he said.<br />
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Masihuddin worked as an administration staff in JAI, while Eki and Tubagus work for the security department with Deden. However Masihuddin was well-trained in self-defence. He’s a taekwondo black belt holder when he was just 15, and became a Muay Thai kickboxing instructor when he was only 18 years old. Aside from that he also practiced yoga.<br />
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A 2008 decree restricted the Ahmadiyah's religious freedoms but stopped short of banning the sect outright. Even so, senior government officials say the Ahmadiyah should accept mainstream Islam or renounce their faith.<br />
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The sect claims 500,000 followers in Indonesia, where it has existed in relative peace since the 1920s.<br />
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Being the minority and frequently victimized by hardliners and fundamentalist group made Ahmadiyah communities stand for each other in times of need.<br />
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Irwan, who was a mobile phone credit seller, first met Roni, a motorcycle taxi driver during a protest in front of a small Ahmadiyah mosque inside a residential in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta in November. <br />
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Irwan’s family rooted from Manis Lor village in Kuningan district, West Java, where around 2,000 followers of the Ahmadiyah faith live, making it the largest Ahmadi community in Indonesia. He followed his father who had been living in Jakarta since the 1970s after he graduated high school. <br />
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Mashuddin also once guarded an Ahmadiyah school in Parung, Bogor when it was attacked in 2008, and together with Tubagus stood guard when an Ahmadiyah orphanage in Tasikmalaya, also in West Java, was sealed by local authorities in December.<br />
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“I was with the same car as [Tubagus] Chandra and Diaz [Ferdiaz Muhammad who also survived the incident]. Chandra was driving, we arrived at Serang at 3 a.m. and picked up 5 more Ahmadis,” Mashuddin continued.<br />
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As they arrived, Mashuddin saw about 200 police officers standing by at both road ends of local Ahmadiyah cleric Ismail Suparman residence. <br />
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“I texted my parents so that they didn’t have to worry. The Police were here,” he said.<br />
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But then the wife of Cikeusik village head Inayah came in screaming, telling them to leave because thousands of people will come to slaughter them.<br />
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“Deden told her, don’t worry, we have pak Hasan here [Cikeusik police chief of crime unit],” he added.<br />
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The convoy went to rest in another room but was soon awaken by loud chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ or ‘God is great’, and ‘Ahmadiyah infidels’. <br />
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It was around 10.30 a.m.,when around 1,500 villagers descended to Ismail’s house. The rest can be seen from the videos that has been posted by various people to You Tube. Deden was seen to hit one of the defendants Idris Mahdani, 30, from Banyu Mundu village, Kadu Hejo subdistrict, 40 kilometers away from Cikeusik.<br />
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Idris was the one seen on the video with black leather jacket, leading the villagers while shouting “Out of the way Police! Infidels! Infidels!”<br />
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After he was hit by Deden, he retreated several steps back before taking out his machete and waved it on the air as the villagers pelted the Ahmadis with rocks.<br />
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Masihuddin said that at that time he went outside and started pelting the villagers with stones, but realizing that they were soon overwhelmed, he and a number of others tried to escape to the back of the house. <br />
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“But we were stuck in a knee-high mud at the paddy field. The drive to Cikeusik was taxing and we were exhausted,” he said.<br />
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The group parted, some ran towards a nearby jungle while some to the riverside. Irwan was already ahead of the group, when he climbed down the trench by the riverside and inched away from the mob. Marsihuddin followed him, but stumbled to the ground as the mob caught up with him. <br />
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“I had with me about Rp 2 million for food and accommodation, and my blackberry, they greedily took it. But it didn’t spare me from further beatings,” he added. <br />
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He also saw Roni who came back to tried to save Bebi who was kicked on the face before being hit with a rock. Bebi survived the attack. His jaw was displaced and until now he can only eat blended food through a straw. That heroic act was taken by the mob as a challenge and they began furiously hitting Roni.<br />
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“I saw Irwan slipped and fell to the river, in the meantime I had 10 men on top of me trying to hit me with sticks and stones and stabbed me with their machetes,” he said.<br />
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“They tried to stab me with a bamboo pole, I dodged, then I heard somebody said, ‘oh he knows martial arts’.”<br />
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Udin was dragged about 500 meter to Ismail’s house, on the way he was viciously beaten when they arrived in front of Parman’s house he saw somebody stabbed a bamboo pole on Roni’s body. <br />
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“They already stripped me and was about to cut my genitals, I shoved the man and shout ‘You guys have to have limits!’, another man hit me on the side but the impact also knocked the guy who tried to mutilate my genital,” he said. <br />
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Masihuddin said that he tried to focus, and keep calm, he controlled which muscle that he has to tighten to avoid fatal injuries, while protecting his head and neck.<br />
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“I turned on my side and let it take the beatings. I don’t want to give them my neck. Until now that part of my body went to sleep, as if a stroke,” he said.<br />
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A number of times he felt like his life is going to end when the machete slashed to close to head. <br />
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“The police thought I was dead, they threw me into the car just like that. But I gained consciousness and started to ask for water. I was extremely dehydrated,” he said.<br />
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The trip from Cikeusik to Malingping hospital, 10 kilometers away, took 1.5 hours and the Police only gave him a piece of shirt to stop the bleeding from a gash on his head. <br />
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“I met Deden in the hospital, he was holding his right hand, I saw Bebi vomiting blood, Ferdiaz put me on his lap and started giving me water, he was also injured,” he said.<br />
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The men were later moved to Serang hospital, which was another 6 hours drive, while Deden was immediately brought to Pertamina hospital in Jakarta. In Serang their stitches has to be removed since it was tainted by dirt, and has to be redone.<br />
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Irwan on the meantime was trying to stay afloat. <br />
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“I could barely swim, I was dragged by current as I tried to stay afloat, in the meantime the mob was still trying to hit me with rocks,” he said.<br />
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He had no idea how long he was under water, when he suddenly could breathe air again.<br />
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“At one point it’s all dark. But then I heard a voice calling me. It was Yadi,” he said.<br />
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Yadi swam against the current and drag him to the side.<br />
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<b>Trauma</b><br />
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Although Irwan did not sustain any critical injuries, he is now afraid of water and refused to remember of the February attack.<br />
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“I am undergoing counseling for my trauma. My therapist said that I had to think of water as my savior. If the river current didn’t carry me away, I might be one of the casualties,” he said.<br />
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Masihuddin found him in raging moods whenever he saw police officers or men in white robes. <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Once I wanted to go to Senen, I passed the National Monument and at that time there was a demonstration on Libya and Ahmadiyah. All of a sudden I started shouting to the driver, ‘Just hit them! Hit them!<b> Why should they make a fuss over other country when their own is still in a mess!</b>’,” he said.</blockquote>
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Luckily he was with his sister who apologized for him and told everyone that her brother has a mental illness. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“At other time I was in Citraland and saw a police officer, I went to him and screamed at him, <b>‘What are you doing here? You’re doing nothing! Just like in Cikeusik! Officers only watches and do nothing!’</b>,” he continued.</blockquote>
<br />
Masihuddin also suffered from vertigo and severe headache, which made him pop 6 to 7 pills several times a day. He had an infection on his right eye when the mob tried to stab it with a bamboo pole, his hearing, he said, had also decreased and his vocal chord has just recovered. <br />
<br />
“Previously I almost can’t talk,” he said.<br />
<br />
He had to see various doctors every day, from neurologists, ear specialist, and eye specialist. <br />
<br />
<b>Fair Trial?</b><br />
<br />
A video taken by a sect member showed the crowd of more than 1,000 people push police aside and storm a local Ahmadiyah leader's house shouting "infidel" and "Allahu akbar" (God is great).<br />
<br />
After a brief exchange of rocks, the mob overpowered the defenders and set upon them with sticks and stones. One man was filmed being stoned and clubbed to death as he knelt on the ground half naked. The bodies were then mutilated.<br />
<br />
Police officers fled the scene once the violence began, but returned later to mill among the mob as it destroyed the sect's property and continued to beat the corpses of the three male victims.<br />
<br />
A cleric, Ujang Mohammed Arif, 52, is charged with masterminding the attack by inciting others to commit violence.<br />
<br />
Arif sent another defendant, Endang bin Sidik, a phone text message days before the attack reading "Please mobilise ulemas (Muslim scholars), clerics and Koranic school students to besiege Ahmadis in Cikeusik (village)," prosecutors said.<br />
<br />
Endang forwarded the message to 62 people and asked them to gather at his house and wear blue ribbons on the day of the assault.<br />
<br />
“It’s a difficult trial we are going to face with. There’s a possibility that we are going to take the blame,” Masihuddin said, he is due to testify in court at about three weeks.<br />
<br />
Last week chief of crime unit for Cikeusik police First Insp. Hasanudin testified for defendant Ujang Muhammad who allegedly rounded the youths from neighboring villages for the attack.<br />
<br />
He was amongst the police officers who tried to coax Deden and the others to get out from the house. <br />
<br />
“The people came half an hour after the negotiation, when [the Ahmadiyah people] knew that they were coming, they took out their spears and catapult,” he told the panel of judges presided by Rasminto.<br />
<br />
In the trial Hasanudin said that the mob shoved their bare hands to the air while citing God is great.<br />
<br />
“I just found out that there were victims after the clash subsided,” he said. He denied that he saw defendant Ujang Muhammad on the scene.<br />
<br />
Another defendant Endang bin Sidik also testified last week for Ujang, saying that he only brought a book on Ahmadiyah and hadits.<br />
<br />
“We came there to have a discussion, but turned out they started to threw us with rocks and catapult. We fought back with the rocks and wooden poles lying around the area,” he said.<br />
<br />
He denied that Ujang was giving orders to the people. <br />
<br />
“He stood 20 meters away from the house,” he said.<br />
<br />
Andreas Harsono from Human Rights Watch Asia who uploaded the video hoped that it would be considered as key evidence.<br />
<br />
“The video maker has been questioned by the police, and we are hoping that he could use the video as evidence,” he said.<br />
<br />
He was aware that fundamentalist groups will not like the fact that the video is on the net for public consumption.<br />
<br />
Hasril Hertanto, legal expert from the University of Indonesia: believes that it is on the hands of the prosecutors and the judges.<br />
<br />
“Our Criminal Procedure Code [Kuhap] does not acknowledge video materials as evidence, but this was updated by article 5 of the Information and Electronics Transaction Law. However, prosecutors or lawyers are the ones who has to submit the video to the trial and ask for the judges’ permission to use it as court evidence,” Hasril explained.<br />
<br />
The Code, which was issued in 1981, only recognizes witnesses and experts testimonies, paper and object evidences, and the judge’s conclusions derived from the testimonies and evidences.<br />
<br />
“I believe in order to pursue the material truth [the judges] should get with the times, and are willing to accept the video as a court evidence,” he said.<br />
<br />
Firdaus Mubarik from Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) feared that the threat for mistrial is so big, especially since not all major media are willing to covering it.<br />
<br />
Together with several others they set up a twitter account @cikeusiktrial for live tweets during the trial and to provide the public with background information regarding the suspects and the event itself.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Endnote</b>: To a lot of people's (people with their common sense and humanity intact anyway) dismay: in the end <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">Deden was given a six-month prison term. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">Dani bin Misra, a 17-year-old, smashed a victim’s skull with a stone; was charged with manslaughter and got three months. Idris got convicted because of illegal possession of a machete and got five months and 15 days in jail. (see the discrepancy?)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Quoting Lin's op-ed <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/cikeusik-a-criminal-verdict/" target="_blank">piece</a>:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In other words, murder — organized, premeditated and captured on video — is not much more of a crime than stealing a bunch of bananas. In Indonesia, it appears, you can get away with murder, as long as the killing is done in the name of religion.<br />Prosecutors actually recommended light sentences because they said Ahmadiyah members partly provoked the attack by being in the village and then compounded their error by filming and distributing videos of the attack. This is a bit like saying a woman is to blame for being raped because she wore a skirt.</span></blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I agree with one security analyst regarding the anti-shia gathering, on why now and why this theme, that it all has to do with the upcoming election. Find one enemy to wage war against and rally for alliance. Once you got an alliance big enough, and in fact becomes the majority, time to "sell-out". This guy couldn't be less obvious:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />“We will support any candidate who wants to make an MOU to purge the Shiites from Indonesia," Muhammad Al Khaththath, secretary general of the Indonesian Ulema and Congregation Forum (FUUI).</span></blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-78388182118183232892014-04-29T11:01:00.000+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.279+07:00Should journalists be activists as well?This is a piece I wrote after meeting with Nepali senior writer, editor and publisher Kandu Dixit in a discussion held by Japan Foundation in July 2012. The interview with Dixit reminded me of an other <a href="http://jayrosen.tumblr.com/post/18594047513/how-long-would-you-give-the-we-have-no-idea-whos">post </a>by media critic and NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, the debate on <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=journalistic+objectivity">journalistic objectivity</a> is as old as..journalism itself, i guess. Dixit argued that journalists in developing countries could not afford being "completely neutral", just being the passive reporter and publish whatever the officials are saying.<br />
<br />
The original piece is below, edited version can be found <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/meet-a-journalist-on-a-mission-to-change-the-world-for-good/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
To the 57-year old Nepalese writer, editor and publisher Kandu Dixit,
journalism is never limited to reporting events as it is, for him it
has to mean something, act as an agent of change.<br />
<br />
"In Western journalism school, they teach that you would loose your
credibility if you become an activist. My argument is that, it's better
for your credibility if you have a more active role in finding
solution to your society's problem," Kunda told the Jakarta Globe on
Thursday.<br />
<br />
Starting out his career as a microbiologist, Dixit's gradual shift to
journalism might have more to do with his DNA. His mother,
grandparents were writers and poets, Dixit had written for scientific
journals at the same time he started writing for mainstream
publications.<br />
<br />
Eventually he was awarded with a Fulbright scholar to pursue
journalism in Columbia University, before working for the BBC World
Service at the UN Headquarters and later as Asia-Pacific director of
news agency Inter Press Service, based in Manila.<br />
<br />
Dixit returned to Nepal in 1997 after 10 years living abroad, a year
later he co-founded Himal weekly magazine, and then in 2000 an english
weekly tabloid Nepali Times.<br />
<br />
"I want to come back to Nepal and be a journalist, try to change
things and make democracy works," he said.<br />
<br />
Nepal had always been an absolute monarchy mired with domestic
conflicts and violence before finally declaring itself as a federal
republic in 2008, making it the second youngest country after East
Timor.
In 1996, the communist party of Nepal (Maoist) had waged violent
resistance against the royal parliamentary system causing a
decade-long Civil War with more than 12,000 casualties.<br />
<br />
But even after the war and a promise of democracy, the situation in
Nepal is not improving, and this is where, according to Dixit, where
media should take part.<br />
<br />
"After the war, [it turns out the] political leaders who were elected
were not accountable. We have revolutions but people who tried to
change things became dictators who they replace, the same old story,"
he said. "Media has to play a role in the reform and try to keep the revolution
on track."<br />
<br />
Dixit also viewed that media can prevent future wars by exposing
injustice and promote inclusive agendas.
"The seeds of conflicts are actually made during peace time:
discrimination, exclusion, social injsutice, the rising gap between
rich and poor, and intolerance," he continued.<br />
<br />
<b>On his book, Dateline Earth: Journalism as if the Planet Mattered</b><br />
<br />
In 1997, Dixit had his first book published, a 185-page publication
that not only looked into environmental journalism but also on how to
hold on to the core values of journalism while being deeply involved
and passionate for a cause.<br />
<br />
Something he said that journalists in
developing countries, such as Nepal and Indonesia, could not afford to
ignore.<br />
<br />
"The ["Western" journalism] rule was made by a society that already
has a certain economic status, a history of democracy, and their
freedom is not threatened, while our society is still struggling.
We're still trying to make democracy work so we have to take much
active role," Dixit said.<br />
<br />
These values are what he tried to instill in both of his publications in Nepal.<br />
<br />
"We believe in basic things like non-violence politics and tolerance
and we're trying to protect that. We cant just [act like] we're just
here to observe, you have to be involved and protecting that freedom
otherwise there's no point," he continued.<br />
<br />
<br />
And this is an extract from Rosen's post:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The once “safe” choice [we have no idea who is right] becomes the riskier option. That point is reached when enough people begin to mistrust viewlessness and demand to know what the writer thinks, even though they also know that they may not agree.</blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-71755853942472376012013-07-02T22:54:00.000+07:002014-04-29T12:28:34.905+07:00along came the baby..<div dir="ltr">
So a new human being has come to join our little family<br />
After much mulling...<br />
I've decided to no longer update this blog and move <a href="http://theputeras.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a><a href="http://theputeras.blogspot.com/"> </a>instead,<br />
This blog has been a wonderful companion during my heydays.. my youth (*sobs),<br />
And it's just time for me to accept that with the baby in tow, my life has significantly changed.. There is not so much "me" as an individual left. At least until my baby's survival no longer depends on me 100%... Which may take a while.. *sigh*</div>
<div dir="ltr">
So well..<i>adieu</i> for now. See you on the other side..</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-sdK1fYDC65oh1MGQK8xOfjGqWxXm0l7HXi27ysMEtkxC7idNssLMl7pXPgdUAp8Q-aqo2-ItUnwnpetMKdaQBotu1HKsy3itXe40YeQgPo1VTrkjEiPfU_7xefStb4N_vkAKw/s1600/Path%2525202013-06-13%25252013%25253A34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-sdK1fYDC65oh1MGQK8xOfjGqWxXm0l7HXi27ysMEtkxC7idNssLMl7pXPgdUAp8Q-aqo2-ItUnwnpetMKdaQBotu1HKsy3itXe40YeQgPo1VTrkjEiPfU_7xefStb4N_vkAKw/s640/Path%2525202013-06-13%25252013%25253A34.jpg" /> </a> </div>
<b>Update 29 Apr 2014</b>: flash news! daycare! i'll be updating this blog with non-kid stuff! cheers!
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-25276865809197702772013-03-28T12:56:00.001+07:002013-03-28T17:00:20.485+07:00A book review!<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it was the first couple of weeks after labor and I thought I needed a small writing exercise so I wrote this book review (in Bahasa Indonesia) for a friend's site called bukunya.com, a site about books, which was wonderful. But in the end we didn't quite resolve a petty issue: having a longer description of myself and what books mean to me xD I wanted to stay mysterious furthermore I always dislike having to explain myself, on anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a review on Crichton's posthumous novel "Micro", at the time it was the only book on my reading list that I finished.. well along with the Game of Thrones series..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here goes..</span><br />
<h4>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Micro - Michael Crichton</span></span></b></h4>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/cf21f435bb07ca1aff0e6a7067002062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/cf21f435bb07ca1aff0e6a7067002062.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Diskon seringkali menjadi alasan yang kuat untuk membeli sebuah buku. Begitu kuatnya sampai sering mengalahkan tekad diri untuk tidak membeli buku lagi sampai semua yang di rumah selesai dibaca.</span></span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9746359379496425" style="font-weight: normal;">
</b></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apalagi kalau yang sedang didiskon hasil karya pengarang favorit, atau buku tersebut pernah masuk 10 buku terbaik versi The New York Times kapan tahun.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Buku yang terakhir saya beli karena terkena rayuan diskon adalah 'Micro', karangan salah satu penulis favorit saya, Michael Crichton. Sebenarnya ada satu nama lagi yang dinisbahkan sebagai pengarang di novel tersebut: Richard Preston. Seperti Crichton, Preston juga seorang penulis fiksi ilmiah namun sayang belum ada dari karya beliau yang pernah saya baca. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kekaguman saya pada Crichton sendiri berawal dari Jurassic Park yang saya baca ketika masih SD. Kalau tidak salah Ibu ketika itu membeli beberapa novel berbahasa Inggris dari </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">garage sale</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> tetangga. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sejak itu saya jadi tertarik berburu karya Crichton yang lain di perpustakaan. Setelah Jurassic Park saya juga melalap the Lost World, Andromeda Strain, Sphere dan Congo.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perburuan terhenti ketika keluarga kami harus berpindah-pindah beberapa kali, selain itu hidup ngirit ala anak kos di jaman SMA dan kuliah juga merupakan kendala.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karena itulah ketika beberapa waktu lalu saya melihat Crichton di tumpukan buku-buku yang sedang sale, saya seperti bernostalgia. Diskon-nya tidak seberapa, 10% saja. Membuat harga buku yang tadinya Rp 87,000 jadi Rp 79,000.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Micro' bercerita tentang petualangan sekelompok mahasiswa PhD yang diundang untuk sebuah 'tur' fasilitas riset mikrobiologi di Hawaii.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tentu saja </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">something went wrong</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Kalau tidak tentu tidak akan ada ceritanya.. Namun yang membuat saya agak kecewa adalah bagaimana </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">simple</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-nya novel tersebut.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alur cerita sangat bisa ditebak. Kalau boleh dibilang Micro adalah versi dewasa dari 'Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Sambil Belajar Biologi'.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jujur, saya mengharapkan hidangan fiksi ilmiah yang bisa membuat saya deg-degan dan berdecak kagum akan logika sang pengarang.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Setengah jalan saya memutuskan untuk membaca Kata Pengantar novel tersebut dan barulah saya mengerti kenapa karya Crichton yang ini terasa hambar dan narasi ilmiah yang diberikan malah terasa seperti sang penulis sedang pamer pengetahuan, bukan untuk memperkaya cerita, serta mengapa ada nama Richard Preston.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Micro diterbitkan November tahun lalu sementara Crichton meninggal akibat penyakit kanker yang dideritanya tahun 2008. Ya, novel ini adalah karya "anumerta" Crichton yang belum selesai dan Preston ditunjuk oleh penerbit untuk menyelesaikannya.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Singkat kata, novel ini saya selesaikan dalam beberapa hari saja, tidak ada kesan yang tertinggal kecuali rasa kecewa karena karya terakhir yang seharusnya bisa jadi </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">legacy</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sang pengarang favorit tidak mendapat perlakuan yang patut oleh rumah penerbit (yup saya menyalahkan mereka. Preston mungkin sudah berusaha sebisanya, tapi sekali lagi, dia bukan Crichton). Mungkin lebih baik bila penerbit membiarkan karya tersebut apa adanya, bahkan mungkin akan lebih menarik lagi apabila mereka mengadakan lomba terbuka, mengundang fans Crichton, penulis fiksi ilmiah, untuk menyelesaikan novel tersebut. </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just my two cents.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Disclaimer: Resensi ini ditulis Mei 2012 namun karena satu dan lain hal baru bisa diselesaikan 7 bulan kemudian :p</span></span></div>
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</b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-79140126292610792602013-02-18T16:40:00.002+07:002013-02-18T16:40:27.015+07:00'So, how is it like being a mother?'<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hmm..</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Despite the occasional post-natal blues, the feeling that I'm physically stuck and professionally doomed, the realization that none of my old clothes fits except for some over-sized pajamas and nighties...and, you DON'T want to see what's underneath it, ...</span>it's great thanks :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(Words in italics means I only said them inside my head :p)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now i understand why some new mothers obsessively taking pictures of their babies, because it's the only thing in their world that seems right *sigh*</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-42836111285937686652013-02-08T16:33:00.001+07:002013-02-08T16:44:33.555+07:00Days Go By Unless You Put A Meaning To It<b id="internal-source-marker_0.025568847777321935" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last week was actually my birthday. We celebrated in a somewhat muted way. There was this weird self-discernment that once one is with a child, everything about one self does not matter anymore. Anyways, of course there was the midnight cake+candle blowing family ritual with my mom, sis, iko and navis (who for some weird reason was up crying 5 minutes to midnight). Also me and iko went to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert in the evening. It </span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.025568847777321935" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was not really birthday-related, the concert coincided with my birthday and we both love YYYs. The concert itself </span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was nothing short of awesome. Karen O rocks! </span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://majalahouch.com/2013/02/yeah-yeah-yeahs-bikin-%E2%80%9Cpecah%E2%80%9D-panggung-love-garage/">majalahouch.com</a></td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Five days before my birthday we received a visit from a relative, a man whom we called mang Engkus. Actually I am not sure that I have seen him before. I remembered receiving a call from mom, who was away with dad and my other siblings, that mang Engkus was coming to see navis and mom and dad would be home soon.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I asked her who was he exactly and she said he was dad’s relative from West Java, I said okay (and, ‘meh..unknown relative’, I thought.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He arrived with dad’s older sister, was very very quiet. Refused my invitation to come inside, but answered that he’d like to have black tea when I asked him what to drink (typical Sundanese).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I brought him his tea and a slice of pandan sponge cake, iko was with him trying to make conversation. Mang Engkus had mistaken me for some other relatives (maybe), he thought I went to Australia to study (no i didn’t go there, maybe you mistaken me with somebody else) said he last saw me in Batam when I was little (oh dear god i didn’t even remember I’d been to Batam).. yes, it was a painful conversation so I tried to keep it short.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mom and dad arrived a few moments later but dad had to leave again. And then I didn’t see him again because I was busy with navis until they were about to leave.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fast forward to last week Friday we received a surprising news: mang Engkus had committed suicide. We were shocked.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was found hanged in a hotel room near Bandung, West Java. Police suspected suicide because they found his will, everything seemed to be prepared so deliberately and there were no signs of theft. He left his marriage certificate so they could quickly locate his widow, he also left his hotel room unlocked. That was how the room service people found him.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was also when I “finally” found out that he was dad’s cousin. Not just some faraway relative. Mom admitted that I never heard, or rarely heard, about him and his family because they were rarely mentioned. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What makes it more sad was that there was a possibility that his suicidal motive was partially financial. Dad said in his will mang Engkus claimed that he had felt that his life burdens were too much to bear. I know that me and my cousins are not like BFF-close but I know that they can count on me and vice versa during difficult times. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Suicides, like other deaths, is devastating especially to those who are left behind. There were questions that would forever go unanswered like what could have been done? Did we miss the cue for help the last time he visited us? Had dad stayed a bit longer would he open up?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know the phrase ‘everything happens for a reason’ is </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ambigamy/200911/everything-happens-reason-simple-phrase-opens-worm-can-wonder"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">debatable</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Aside from a self-promise to be nicer to strangers and ‘relatives’ his death also reminds me of the low days of my life and how the thought of suicide had crossed my mind. It stuck on me for days, I felt I was on a dead-end, helpless, there is no point to continue living, I prepared the how and when before at some point I gathered all my strength and decided to be braver.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course I have God to thank for the people I’ve met, the family I have if I had ever decided to take my life back then there would be no navis, I would not be married to iko, which i think was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life so far,..</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So yeah, I was saddened by mang Engkus’ death. I wish he had not have seen his life that way, I wish he had believed that with enough courage and support things would eventually work out in the end. </span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-55782128053123667592013-01-07T21:59:00.000+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.272+07:00My JG days in review<span id="internal-source-marker_0.17809995193965733"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was thinking to look back and review some of the most-read articles </span><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've</span><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ever written in 2012 like a friend of mine did for <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/globebeat/5-biggest-environmental-stories-of-2012/564388" target="_blank">her blog</a> but then considering my time at JG as a full-time news reporter is almost up, might just as well do a review of ALL articles </span><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've</span><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> written. Most read ones and a number of the most memorable ones but unnecessary popular.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>First story</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My first piece (and headline) for Jakarta Globe, was co-written with our health reporter Dessy Sagita:</span><br /><span style="background-color: #ffffcc; color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-government-to-cut-state-health-insurance/335205" target="_blank">Indonesian Government to Cut State Health Insurance</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was my first day and our desk editor put me in tandem with Gita and it was Abu Rizal Bakrie’s last day as the Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare. I remembered waiting for Mr. chin-man to make his farewell speech at this small park inside the Ministry’s office with other journos and was taught my first lesson on being a journo: patience.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The news was that the government believed some 16 million people had managed to increase their income and therefore are no more eligible for Jamkesmas, the state’s health insurance. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was a bit fazed on what Bakrie actually said during the press conference, I only remembered back at the office I was asked to call mbak Ratna from Indonesia Corruption Watch to hear what she has to say about it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remembered waiting on Lin until he finished editing the story before going home, which I still do for weeks and months to come. Always having trouble going to bed before I know that all my stories passed the last copy editor.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>First story to pass 10,000 views </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*drum roll*</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/porn-star-miyabis-movie-premieres-in-jakarta/373454" target="_blank">Porn Star Miyabi's Movie Premieres In Jakarta</a></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">L-O-L</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><a href="http://swotti.starmedia.com/tmp/swotti/cacheBWL5YWJP/imgMiyabi4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://swotti.starmedia.com/tmp/swotti/cacheBWL5YWJP/imgMiyabi4.jpg" width="219" /></a><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I forgot who gave me the honor of going to the screening of this ..this .. thing. I don’t even remember writing about it. But lo! my name was on the byline.. so.. hmm..</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last para: “</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Jakarta Globe journalist who viewed the film said it appeared to be aimed at teenagers and had little positive to say about the movie.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*double hmm*</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Me vs FPI</b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nowadays a mention of FPI in a news story is a warrant for high web hits. But two years ago almost everyone forgot what this organization was capable of. For me this story started it all:</span><br /><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/muslims-protest-in-bekasi-over-statue-of-women-and-desecration-of-koran/375090" target="_blank">Muslims Protest in Bekasi Over Statue Of Women and Desecration of Koran</a><br />
<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><a href="http://stat.ks.kidsklik.com/statics/files/2012/02/13298004901916549203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://stat.ks.kidsklik.com/statics/files/2012/02/13298004901916549203.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since then I’ve been paying a watchful eye on Bekasi, FPI, hardline groups, landed stories after stories on these so-called vigilantes and defenders of Islam, the growing religious tension/anxiety in the country and of course: terrorism.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also remembered interviewing ‘ulamas’ and ‘kyais’, people who are supposed to be the beacon of morality, but shocked on how close-minded most of them are while I was still fresh from my return from Holland, which fares better in terms of respecting minority (and Islam was a minority there).</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At that time not so many media are willing to report on the tension, or openly stated that there was a growing tension, except perhaps the Jakarta Post. I also noticed journos on field tend to take in what the ulamas/government officials words ‘as is’, very little dared to question their rhetorics of ‘religious tolerance’ and ‘human rights’. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There aren’t many reporters who are interested to see for themselves what was the condition like in the neighborhoods of the houses of worship that are in dispute. News reports were more likely a ‘hearsay’ piece giving more than necessary attention to those who were immediately accessible (spokesman of such and such religious group) rather than relevant (local residents, neighbors).</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sadly, nothing much has changed these past three years, if not, nothing has changed at all. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most-read stuffs</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Iko asked me once which of my writings that I felt most proud/satisfied of. I told him that I get satisfaction from writing stories that made me spill blood, sweat and tears just to get them, and stories that are overlooked.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This particular one was special --> </span><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/editorschoice/how-corrupt-is-indonesias-ministry-of-foreign-affairs/499137"><span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How Corrupt Is Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs?</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because I did everything on my own, the interviews, the research, going back and forth to the Supreme Audit Agency for the Ministry’s financial reports, poring over them, I almost felt like those investigative reporters. Almost. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was quite rewarding as it garnered quite a lot of reads (15,086 views as of tonight). But the most-read cookies went to these two:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/editorschoice/indonesias-new-immigration-law-confuses-one-and-all/472829"><span style="background-color: white; color: #093d72; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indonesia's New Immigration Law Confuses One and All</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (25,645)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/muslim-groups-talk-war-over-christianization/382952" target="_blank">Muslim Groups Talk War Over ‘Christianization’</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(15,698)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><strike>So there you go.</strike></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On second thought, will do a part 2 post on being a city reporter and writing series. 'Till then! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(All images courtesy of Google! Image :p #toolazytocreditonebyone)</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-3585350134684824872012-09-14T18:20:00.001+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.264+07:00story dump #1________________________________________
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From: Ulma Haryanto
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Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 7:16 PM
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Subject: muchdi
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<br />
Hello,
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<br />
Today I'm off but here is a bit of additional Munir-related piece. I asked journalist Alam Burhanan on what was it like to interview Muchdi Purwopranjono back then since I couldnt reach Muchdi myself. I thought it was good for a refresher about the alleged mastermind who had been almost convicted. Alam was the one behind ANTV's investigative reporting program Telisik, the guy won a couple of awards for it. He's now working for VOA in DC, I had thought to include the interview yesterday but couldn't coz his response came late (time difference).
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<br />
Additionally, I am attending this 12-day ASEAN journo training in Gran Mahakam starting Sunday.. participants r required to write something at the end of the training and I hope we can also run it on paper (kalo bagus sih :p).. but if u hv asean-related topics that u think r interesting pls let me know since we are also scheduled to interview Marty on Monday sept 17.
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<b>Ulma Haryanto
</b><br />
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It might be years after the last time TV Producer Alam Burhanan met former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy Muchdi Purwopranjono in his prison cell, but he would never forget that day, nor that he wished Indonesia to forget about how the case of human rights activist Munir is far from resolved.
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"It started when I had to meet with several [politicians] who are detained for corruption, and since these people gather together it gave me the chance to meet others, not only Muchdi but also Aulia Pohan, Urip Tri Gunawan, etc.," Alam told the Jakarta Globe in an email interview. Alam now lives in Maryland, United States and works for state-owned broadcast service Voice of America (VOA) in Washington DC.
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Aulia is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's in-law and former central bank governor who was jailed for graft while Urip is a senior prosecutor sentenced for receiving bribe money in 2008. Both, together with Muchdi, were once detained together at Kelapa Dua in Depok.
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"I paid special attention to Muchdi at the time because of the seriousness of his indictment, it was also the first time for a general from BIN to be made a murder suspect," Alam continued.
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In 2008, when Muchdi was declared suspect in the case, Alam was the executive producer of an investigative reporting show for private television network ANTV.
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"It was hard to get to Muchdi," he said.
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"It was a sensitive period [for him], to be a general who had to be jailed for a murder case that gained a lot of attention."
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"From the beginning we already think that the prosecutors were not serious enough in building up his case, in addition to that the panel of judges was also reluctant to take the case seriously," said Al Araaf, director of human rights group Imparsial.
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Munir was poisoned in September 2004 as he flew from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda Indonesia pilot, has been convicted of putting a fatal dose of arsenic into his drink.
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Prosecutors have accused Muchdi of ordering the killing out of anger over Munir's criticisms of his leadership of the Army's Special Forces unit (Kopassus).
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Alam said that he had talked to Muchdi several times before he finally agreed to be interviewed for his show.
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But interviewing a former general with high position in Intelligence had its own challenges. Alam recalled one instance when Muchdi tried to "threaten" him when he disagree with where the show was going.
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Muchdi was "chaotic", Alam said of one of the meetings. At that time Muchdi "summoned" him to his cell because he wanted to read the script before the show would be aired but Alam instead brought and old one.
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"Independence of the press is protected by law so I have no obligation to show it to him, I told him the new one wasn't ready but he can review the previous script," Alam continued.
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But moments after reading the first page Muchdi started shouting angrily... over the number of houses he owned.
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"What is this?? How did you know I have two houses? I only have one, you are so tendentious!" Alam recalled.
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Muchdi also further protested how the script mentioned him as the driving force behind Munir's assasination.
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"He grew angrier when I took out a copy of the prosecutor's indictment demanding to know where I got it, in panic I replied that I got it from Kontras," he continued, referring to the rights group Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
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"Muchdi shouted angrily, 'So you are from Kontras?? I thought you are mine!'," Alam said.
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"His face was shaking, then he said, 'I still have a million people outside! I still have money! Don't you think I cannot do anything from inside the prison!'," he continued.
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"He said if we ever air Kontras, he will 'mark' me."
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Alam admitted that he had feared for his life back then, but managed to keep going by reminding himself that what he did was a journalism work and that it was important not only for Indonesia but also garnered international attention.
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"Maybe Muchdi wanted me to defend him and disregard data from other parties on the case. But to me, those who think Muchdi is Munir's killer is still needed, in the end of course we still air interviews with Kontras," he added.
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Alam did not hear anymore from Muchdi even after the show was aired.
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"As a part of the fight 'against forgetfulness' we should keep asking the question on the rest of the actors, who might already died or transferred to another country, the keys to unlock Munir's case are diminishing and harder to find," Alam said.
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Only former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, was convicted for lacing Munir's drink with poison. "Intellectual" actors behind his actions were still largely untouched, including former BIN chief Hendropriyono and deputy As'ad Ali.
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Leaked US diplomatic cables released last year by WikiLeaks mentioned on how top-level officials of BIN were involved in Munir's murder.
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They mentioned how then-Chief of National Police Sutanto allegedly knew about the BIN involvement but was lacking evidence to implicate its officials and that Hendropriyono "chaired two meetings at which Munir's assassination was planned". The cables and a witness at those meetings told police that "only the time and method of the murder changed from the plans he heard discussed; original plans were to kill Munir in his office."
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As'ad was also mentioned in court testimoney of signing a letter requesting Garuda to put Pollycarpus on the same flight as Munir.
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"From the beginning prosecutors did a weak job with Muchdi's indictment, so it was no surprise that the court acquitted him," said Al Araf, program director of human rights group Imparsial.
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"But [the President] still has two years left in his term to review the case, and we hope that he could stop wavering and start ordering for the case to be reviewed," he added.<br />
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#8TahunMunir</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-66349039145660191962012-02-28T15:31:00.001+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.275+07:00Living in Limbo: Stories From PuncakI had always wondered why there were a lot of Middle-Eastern people and shops in Puncak area. I thought maybe it's the cool weather and yet relative closeness to Jakarta,..or maybe the girls..who knows..
<br>
<br>It was just like any other day, I went to a press conference at LBH Jakarta who have just "inaugurated" 110 <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/for-indonesias-poor-paralegals-pave-the-way-to-justice/493419">paralegals</a>.
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<br>One of the people at LBH Jakarta asked me if I would like to meet with the asylum-seekers living in Puncak. I was like "Bingo!". I accepted immediately and we left for Puncak about a week later.
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<br>Little did I know, that the plight facing these asylum-seekers is a complicated one. Before rounding off my writing I became overwhelmed by the facts and stories that unfold in front of me.
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<br>It was difficult indeed to try to summarize everything in 1,500 words. The original version was 1,800-ish and I already had to discard about 30-40 percent of the materials. This is the <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/asylum-seekers-play-the-waiting-game-in-indonesia-but-cant-wait-to-leave/500731">link</a> to the story, 1,500 words edited by the wonderful <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/pages/search/index.php?keywords=%22hayat+indriyatno%22&x=0&y=0">Hayat Indriyatno</a>.
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<br>In the story only mentioned very little about the three families whom I saw that day, so I decided to write the rest here.
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<br><b>1. The Mazraehs</b>
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<br>The Arabic Mazraeh (alternative spellings: Mazrae or Mazra/a) clan is pretty well-known in Iran to be politically active in the struggles for the Arab minority. For those who don't know, the majority race in Iran is Persian with Shia being the prominent denomination. <i>Which is interesting, because apparently it was the Shia/Persians who are oppressing the Sunnis there. While here it's the <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/madura-shiites-report-more-threats-since-going-home/492256">other way around</a></i>.
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<br>I met Amir and his family, who managed to fled to Indonesia via Dubai in 2010, in their rented 3-bedroom home in Cisarua area. We had to pay Rp 2,000 before entering the residential complex, I guess it's because we had come with a car. Others who went by motorbikes were not charged, which is weird anyway, because it's not a tourist area.
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<br>Amir's brother, Mahmoud Mazraeh made his way to UK as a political asylum in the 1990s and found the Ahwazi Arab People's Democratic Popular Front (AAPDF). Before that, two of his brothers were also executed.
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<br>The 54-year old however managed to maintain his calm, politely refusing to tell me the complete story of his escape, and referred me to his lawyers (people from LBH Jakarta) about it.
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<br>Amir has little understanding of English, without a translator my interview would had been in jeopardy if not for his 11-year old grandson, Fauzi, who is surprisingly fluent in both English and Indonesian.
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<br>"Ada masalah [There was a problem]," his grandson said, when I asked Amir of the reason why he fled.
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<br>Amir and his oldest son, Tohir, were subject to arrest and torture until in 2009 when they joined a demonstration protesting the election of Ahmadinejad, the threats increased. A week after he flew out of Iran, the government tried him in-absentia and sentenced him to 16 years.
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<br>Few weeks later Amir was joined by his wife, Tohir, his youngest daughter, Aminah and her two children.
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<br>Aminah is in late 20s or early 30s, and left to take care of her two children alone since her husband died in 2005 after being arrested and tortured.
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<br>Her eyes welled up when I asked what was it that she miss the most.
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<br>"My work, my city, my friends and my siblings," she said, adding that they have left two brothers and a sister in Iran.
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<br>"I want them to join us soon," she said.
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<br>The home of the Mazraeh has a small fish pond and a big stove for baking pita breads. Amir said they help the family kill time.
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<br>"My wife cooks and I fish, or play football with friends. Or read the Koran, I am more religious now," he said with a smirk.
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<br>As an asylum-seeker, none of these people are allowed to work, or get education.
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<br>Fauzi and his younger sister Anna, who is 8, preferred to go to an internet cafe, or watch television. Which is how they learn the languages.
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<br>I asked him if he like it here, he said, "No. Ngga suka."
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<br>Fauzi said that he keep the family in touch with other relatives via Facebook. He would upload pictures and send messages through it.
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<br>I learned from Amir that the Iranian Arabs are not allowed to speak their language, dress up like one, and other means of cultural expression.
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<br><b>2. Yunus' story</b>
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<br>Yunus is the opposite of Amir, he is vibrant and fiery, recounting his tales of struggle in Ahwaz, Iran. He's been put under arrest, solitary confinement, but he also managed to flee with his wife and three children.
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<br>Like the Mazraeh kids Yunus' are also fluent in Indonesian. One girl, Sofia, 10, even told me that she wanted to learn English properly. Because the only education that they're receiving is a two hours session of English in a crowded class room per week.
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<br>"Banyak anak nakal," she said.
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<br>Yunus house is smaller than Amir's, and more open. I guess this is why the family has been having health complaints.
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<br>"It's too cold here for us," Yunus said.
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<br>At Yunus' house I began to notice that it was the second time of the day that we were offered instant coffee mix. <i>(Later when we went to the third house, we were AGAIN offered with the same drink)</i><br>
<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z3WVYaxi9NI/T0yGcAgZT6I/AAAAAAAAEqM/-EXMphF4TDM/s1600/IMG_6735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="246" width="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z3WVYaxi9NI/T0yGcAgZT6I/AAAAAAAAEqM/-EXMphF4TDM/s320/IMG_6735.JPG" /></a><br>Yunus and his family</div>
<br>Rambutan came next, so I asked them if those were their favorites, they said yes.
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<br>"We love the fruits here, Mangoes, avocado, are expensive in Iran, but here no. I even like Durian," Yunus smiled.
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Well isn't that a relief :)
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<br><b>3. The Mother and Her Daughters</b>
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<br>The last family I visited are the Mazbans. Well actually the mother, Afwah, is married to Amir's older brother so their daughters are Mazraeh. But I don't want to create confusion, so.. :p
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<br>According to an officer from JRS who accompanied me, women and her children are prioritized. Which is why Afwah and her daughters decided to go on their own to Indonesia.
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<br>Afwah herself is a Persian, and her marriage had caused her trouble. Her family shunned on her and on the other hand she was not completely accepted by the Arabs in her neighborhood.
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<br>One of her daughters, Khadija, who is just two years younger than I am, was at one point arrested for six days after joining a demonstration, and refused to ever told her mother nor sisters on what happened.
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<br>To UNHCR she only attested that she had heard women screaming and raped, and that every day she was in fear aside from being deprived from food.
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<br>"My mother and my sister can't barely walk," the oldest daughter, Afika, told the JRS officer.
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<br>She said her mother has a knee and back problem and need to see a physiotherapist, while Khadija needs a crutch to be able to stand. Afika also said that her sister had had diarrhea for about a month when she first arrived.
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<br>"We don't like the clinics here, they're useless," Afika said.<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u1bvU-9XMDY/T0yG0-rd8wI/AAAAAAAAEqY/ISO4H5i8SQA/s1600/IMG_6739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u1bvU-9XMDY/T0yG0-rd8wI/AAAAAAAAEqY/ISO4H5i8SQA/s320/IMG_6739.JPG" /></a><br>Khadija and her mother</div>
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<br>She spilled her heart out, on dealing with the cold, missing her children, and concerns about the health of her mother and sister over our third instant coffee for the day. Well, actually for me it's the fifth. I had one for breakfast and another one when we stopped at a stall before going to the Mazraehs.
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<br>Afika's hands were also never far from her praying beads, after the complaints she retorted praising to God because the lawyers of LBH Jakarta had helped them in their appeal to UNHCR.
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<br>The JRS officer promised her that they will take them to a good doctor soon but she needs to check with UNHCR and IOM for the funds.
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<br>So we bid our good byes, the day was getting late and all of us were hungry (we skipped lunch btw). I prayed for the families to leave this place soon and re-join their relatives.
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<br><br>Spending time with them surely felt other-worldly and wonderful at the same time. As they recounted their stories, I could picture one by one the scenes from <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/persepolis.html">Persepolis</a>.
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<br>There was this one sentence from Mayong, one of the public lawyers at LBH Jakarta, that struck me:
<blockquote>"A minority in one place will become the oppressor in another place when they are the majority. Suppressions should not be a reason to oppress others, but to be better."</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-86326368634223825472012-02-26T22:34:00.001+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.287+07:00On Long-Form JournalismI've been a subscriber to <a href="http://longreads.com/">Longreads </a>and <a href="http://longreads.com/">Longform </a> for a few months now and they (actually I knew longreads first. I forgot how though :s) introduced me to what they call as 'long form' journalism.
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<br><b>And what is a long-form journalism?</b>
<br>I would safely assume that they are journalistic pieces, usually written in narrative style and are typically longer than 2,000 words.. Or take more than 5 minutes to read.
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<br>At first I thought long reads are only good for print, since the common conception during pre-tablet era is that it's tiring to read exhaustively via an electronic screen. But then, it's either my eyes are used to it, or the way devices of today are engineered, I am less bothered reading long stuffs.
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<br>This <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/lewisdvorkin/2012/02/23/inside-forbes-how-long-form-journalism-is-finding-its-digital-audience/">article </a> over at Forbes said that it's just not me, but the overall readership for long pieces IS increasing, despite researchers' cries that the society now has a shorter attention span. I mean, now in the weekends I realize that I tend to enjoy my time reading those longer pieces that are delivered to me via email (NOT twitter. I also find that avoiding twitter during my day off is sooo relaxing :D). Or yeah, burying myself in a good book.
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<br>And then I tried to look at JG's own so-called long pieces. Umm I dunno if this is super secret but I guess people should already figure it out. Newspapers won't survive for long, for maybe of course in developing countries like Indonesia where the majority of people still reads from paper. As cited by <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/01/28/shift-taste-more-evident-ict-market-pundits.html">the other English paper</a> households with tablet computers only constituted of two percent.
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<br>True.. smartphone owners are now at like 78 percent but most of the people only use it to log in to their facebook. (Interesting read: <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/consumertech/for-many-indonesians-facebook-is-the-only-internet/495477">For Many Indonesians, ‘Facebook’ Is the Only Internet</a>)
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<br>In the beginning, JG wanted to differentiate the "paper" with "web". So we want to churn news features, longer pieces that is timeless, more analytic and in-depth (for the daily news) to be published on the paper so that people still want to read it and find it relevant even though the hard news are already up (or 'broken') on online news sites and TV stations.
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<br>But who am I kidding.. The people who read our stuffs mostly do it online or mobile. So why shun away from it? It was also revealed to me the other day when I wrote this <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/editorschoice/how-corrupt-is-indonesias-ministry-of-foreign-affairs/499137">2,100-something piece</a> that looked damn intimidating on paper (will put up the picture here later). But online, it doesn't scare you that much. In fact I'm happy to say that until today it has more than 10,000 hits.
<BR><i>UPDATE: Here it is </i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wP88aHCTREw/T0sBoiqmhjI/AAAAAAAAEp8/BMHoA7RcIIc/s1600/DSC_0562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wP88aHCTREw/T0sBoiqmhjI/AAAAAAAAEp8/BMHoA7RcIIc/s320/DSC_0562.JPG" /></a></div>
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<br>Long-form journalism is not that popular yet in Indonesia. Newspapers usually have the reporters divide their stories to a number of 'series', and I would say only Tempo magazine has worth-reading long form pieces.
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<br>People here are still enjoying the short burst of info splashed on them via Twitter. Besides, with only 14 years of our so-called 'freedom of press', Indonesian journalism is still taking shape and I'm glad that I'm a part of it :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-35784970630137452942012-02-24T18:46:00.000+07:002012-02-24T18:58:58.437+07:00In the spirit of procrastination..Today's supposed to be my day off but I have to finish a story if I want to have our Sunday getaway to <a href="http://www.keukenbdg.com/" target="_blank">KeukenBdg</a>. However halfway through, I managed to convince myself to take a break and start a mess in the kitchen.
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<br />
A quick browse later I decided to try a stir-fry veggie + salami recipe I saw in <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Stir-Fried-Lettuces-with-Crispy-Shallots-388703" target="_blank">Epicurious </a>and a lovely smoothie from a recipe featured in <a href="http://barefeetinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/08/strawberry-peach-banana-vanilla.html" target="_blank">Gojee</a>.
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<br />
So what I wanted was something that can be served over rice, easy to make, and yea, salami..? why not? The picture looks pretty too! And of course something lovely and sweet in case the food fails :))<br />
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But if there's a lesson learned today, is that I am once again reminded that cooking is something that you have to learn and practice over and over again..
For instance: I didn't know iceberg lettuce has a bitter aftertaste and you cannot expect to make a proper smoothie using a fruit juice extractor.....!
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<br />
So, without further ado, here goes...
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<br />
1. Stir-Fried Lettuces and Fried Shallots (or in Indonesian: tumis sayur + bawang goreng)
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Fry the shallots first. I used about 2 tbsp oil for 1/2 cup of finely sliced shallots over low heat. When color changed to golden brown, toss them over a plate/bowl lined with kitchen towel.
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Over medium heat, add 1/4 cup beef salami (about 80 grams), 3-4 cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger, and 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes. Stir until garlic turned brown-ish (about 2 minutes) then add 1/2 head of coarsely chopped iceberg lettuce and 2 cups of ..well I used this Chinese vegetable thing I found at the supermarket. I believe variations of pak choi/bok choi will do. Sprinkle about 2 cubes of broth and pepper. Keep 'em stirring until the veggies are all wilted, turn the heat off. Serve with the fried shallots sprinkled on top<br />
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<a href="http://www.epicurious.com/images/recipesmenus/2012/2012_february/388703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="378" src="http://www.epicurious.com/images/recipesmenus/2012/2012_february/388703.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>
Well mine wasn't as pretty as the picture. But it tasted okay.
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<br />
2. Banana Strawberry Smoothie
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The original recipe calls for peaches and vanilla extract. It's not easy to find peaches here so I just used more bananas instead. I also used vanilla soy milk, so no need to add the extract, PLUS soy milk sounds healthier :))
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Pop all of the ingredients below to your blender/smoothie-maker:
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4 bananas
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12 strawberries
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2 cups of vanilla soy milk
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1-2 tablespoons of honey
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Blend!<br />
And then leave it to cool in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.. Yumm!<br />
<br />
<i>Howeverrrr..Since I used a 'fruit juice extractor' (and just in case you had also forgotten that what you have at home is a fruit juice extractor not a blender/smoothie maker but you already bought all of the ingredients) this is what you should do:
<br />- Chop all of the bananas and strawberries into manageable pieces before pushing it through the 'juicer hole'.<br />- Wait for all of the gooey juice to drip down to the juice container before transferring them to a tumbler.<br />- Scrape clean all what's left of the bananas and strawberries on the 'waste' compartment. Don't forget to check under the blade as well. I lost a good gunk of banana-strawberry mesh left between the gaps :-(<br />- Pour in the milk and honey<br />- Make sure that the tumbler's cap is closed tight<br />- SHAKE IT</i>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SiWTyQt5Ve52ehnUYi4iSYjQ9DlfHQjLoCfOROyhasO320MlNngXOrXnmD7_PKkjC2vzWwLNWJBzyNuW-fzLfSAj5Z50Duu2wdljhZecmGhedJZCeU0TwPy0VcYC88dcPw3Lpw/s400/strawberry+peach+banana+smoothie+-+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SiWTyQt5Ve52ehnUYi4iSYjQ9DlfHQjLoCfOROyhasO320MlNngXOrXnmD7_PKkjC2vzWwLNWJBzyNuW-fzLfSAj5Z50Duu2wdljhZecmGhedJZCeU0TwPy0VcYC88dcPw3Lpw/s400/strawberry+peach+banana+smoothie+-+small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And yup, it does look something like that :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-79390727460842089352012-01-29T01:08:00.000+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.282+07:00Corruption and MeThis post is some sort of a prequel to <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/life-in-the-fast-lane-daily-graft-fuels-a-corrupt-society/478362">this piece</a> I wrote in JG back in November.<br />
<br />
I had to renew my passport, so i asked a fellow reporter where to go if she wants to renew hers. She gave me a number of an official at one of the immigration offices in Jakarta and said that the man was "assigned" by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to take care of passports for reporters. <br />
<br />
"Interesting," I thought. I wasn't aware that reporters have a special window at Indonesian immigration offices.<br />
<br />
The next day i called this person and told him that I need to renew my passport, he then told me to go to another person, Bobby (not his real name), because turned out that he had been recently transferred to an island outside Java.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep9tmxn66G8/TyQy7LCeleI/AAAAAAAAEpc/IbW56ohBwRI/s1600/FxCam_1320027854925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="134" width="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep9tmxn66G8/TyQy7LCeleI/AAAAAAAAEpc/IbW56ohBwRI/s200/FxCam_1320027854925.jpg" /></a></div>So i went to the Immigration office to see Bobby. I passed through the door that has a "Staff Only" sign on top of it. I asked around for Bobby, a young man in his 30s sitting quite in the middle of the room. From that brief glimpse I assume Bobby is the guy the others go to for signatures.<br />
<br />
I told him that I am a reporter and the previous immigration guy told me to see him. Bobby nodded, told me to fill in some forms, ordered me to give him copies of my IDs, including my press card.<br />
<br />
Afterwards he told me to come back an hour later to get my photo taken and pay for administration.<br />
<br />
One hour passed, I came back and Bobby gave me a piece of paper that shows me how much I have to pay. What struck me is this handwriting (presumably Bobby's) on that piece of paper: "Press, please help".<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qYHwgjTkI0E/TyQzL13O5mI/AAAAAAAAEpo/0Avn8Eo7UPg/s1600/FxCam_1320030838766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="134" width="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qYHwgjTkI0E/TyQzL13O5mI/AAAAAAAAEpo/0Avn8Eo7UPg/s200/FxCam_1320030838766.jpg" /></a></div><br />
At that point I felt something nudging my conscience. The last time I heard the phrase "Please help" was during the hearing of Southeast Asian Games graft scandal. Witnesses from local government testified that the Secretary of the Sports and Youth Ministry, who has already been convicted, told them, "Please help this company." Referring to a certain private contractor. <br />
<br />
I seek console to the fact that even with the supposedly "powerful phrase" I still have to wait for several hours before my passport interview and photograph. Sitting in the waiting room I thought to myself, "Hey I'm just like anybody else here."<br />
<br />
When that's done I asked the official who took my photo when my passport would be ready.<br />
<br />
He said, "Oh, that you have to ask the person who helped you. There must be a person downstairs that assisted you, right?"<br />
<br />
So I went to see Bobby again and he told me to come back a couple of days later.<br />
<br />
To me, this whole "help" and "assistance" thing could only lead to one logical response, that I have to "give back".<br />
<br />
So I frantically asked a number of reporters from different media. From the most distinguished one I got the reply: "We do give gifts to the officials who helped us. Not money, mind you. Gifts, like toys for his kid, or cakes."<br />
<br />
I also recently knew that this distinguished media also bribe officials in order to get their hands on certain "classified" documents :D<br />
<br />
Anyways, on the supposed day that my passport is ready, I decided to get Bobby (and his friends) some "gifts". So I went to a supermarket near my house and bought two bottles of sweet syrup and a big tin of assorted crackers coz hey, it was almost Lebaran. A glass of sweet drink and crackers for Lebaran is a perfect companion!<br />
<br />
Once again I went through the doors that said "Staff Only" and found Bobby. He told another officer to get my passport from a stash of others belonging to fellow reporters, police officers and of course, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officials.<br />
<br />
After I signed a proof of receipt and Bobby handed me my passport, I gestured him to the plastic bag I've been carrying around. The one filled with sweet stuffs for lebaran.<br />
<br />
What I didn't expect was his response:<blockquote>"Hey, you know that we're not allowed to receive anything."</blockquote>In just that split-second I see myself in the defendant's chair, admitting to the honorable panel of judges that I have given Bobby two bottles of sweet syrup and a tin of assorted crackers for helping me get my new passport :s<br />
<br />
So yeah, there I stand in the middle of the Immigration office's bustle and occasional curious glances from visitors, extending my hand awkwardly towards this public servant who is looking up at me from behind his desk and stacks of documents.<br />
<br />
I gasped for words and could only muttered something that sounds like, "It's for Lebaran".<br />
<br />
Bobby accepted the bag, I smiled lopsidedly, shook his hands, and walked away, promising myself that I would use the regular person's way next time. Please remind me in 2016.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-46567563303814084642011-05-30T12:34:00.001+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.269+07:00Anti-corruption ramblings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://rilisindonesia.com/foto/2010/12/Logo-KPK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="209" width="250" src="http://rilisindonesia.com/foto/2010/12/Logo-KPK.jpg" /></a></div>Being a KPK/legal reporter comes with its own ups and downs. The up-side, I am on the front line of national-scale scandals such as <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/kpk-we-cant-control-nazaruddin/443690">Democrat party dirts</a> incl SEA Games graft, <a href="http://jglo.be/aCEY">travel check hearings</a> that involved senior national bank official and a missing businesswoman, and what I think also important is the <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/patrialis-heads-kpk-selection-committee/443101">KPK leaders selection committee</a>. <br />
<br />
So far I also like my fellow reporters here, most of them are sharp and share an idealism that they are on KPK's side on the fight against corruption.<br />
<br />
The down-side, I miss making stories on people, on communities. It's really tiring, dealing with thick-skinned corrupt politicians and lawmakers who siphoned millions of Rupiah from the state budget and use it like it was theirs. <br />
<br />
I also miss writing stories that are my own. Here reporters write the same stories, though in different angles. When I was covering for the city I work at my own pace covering stories on my own (or my editor's) decision.<br />
<br />
But yeah, I guess it's never wrong to learn new stuffs. It's also a good experience for me to cover the KPK, our antigraft superbody and learn about the important yet heavy task they have. <br />
<br />
It is worrisome that even more than a decade after reform, our politicians and civil servants does not seem to change. <br />
<br />
KPK's current <a href="http://www.kpk.go.id/modules/commissioners/">leadership </a>is going to end in December, and the selection committee, even though they did a good job by selecting Busyro to head the KPK, there is a lot of reason to be wary of the process.<br />
<br />
As with SBY, good thing doesnt come twice. He might be applauded during his first term but man, his second term sucked bad. And with the highly political cases KPK is now dealing, there will be those who are trying to weaken KPK from the inside. <br />
<br />
The committee had to come up with at least 8 names for the new leader. KPK leaders consist of 1 chairman and 4 deputy chairmen, the rule is that in the end the House will choose from 2 names for each position. a case is on going at the <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/indonesia/antigraft-advocates-argue-for-kpk-chief-busyro-to-serve-full-term/442775">Constitutional Court </a>whether Busyro can stay for another 3 years or not.. <br />
<br />
I wonder who are going to try the candidacy, or if the selection committee would come up with names with superhuman integrity, and the smarts, to tackle with this country's rampant corruption.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-16960613996890015582011-05-30T10:53:00.000+07:002011-05-30T10:57:02.740+07:00[LBH Masyarakat] Summer Internship 2011<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MkBqzuxRPEU/TeMVkGap1hI/AAAAAAAAEjM/BcEKPj2OOaM/s1600/Summer%2BInternship%2B2011%252C%2BLBH%2BMasyarakat-722741.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MkBqzuxRPEU/TeMVkGap1hI/AAAAAAAAEjM/BcEKPj2OOaM/s320/Summer%2BInternship%2B2011%252C%2BLBH%2BMasyarakat-722741.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612353270575650322" /></a></p>________________________________________<br>From: Ricky Gunawan<br>Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 10:03 AM<br>To: Ricky Gunawan<br>Subject: [LBH Masyarakat] Summer Internship 2011<p>Kawan-kawan,<p>Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (LBH Masyarakat) kembali mempersembahkan Summer Internship 2011: Bergabung Melawan Diskriminasi, yang akan dilaksanakan mulai 4 Juli 2011 hingga 3 Agustus 2011, di Jakarta.<p>Summer Internship adalah kesempatan bagi mahasiswi/a dari berbagai jurusan untuk mendedikasikan dirinya bagi pengembangan masyarakat. Summer Internship memanfaatkan momentum libur kuliah agar mahasiswi/a dapat mengisi liburan dengan hal yang positif. Dalam Summer Internship, mahasiswi/a bisa menambah pengetahuan seputar hukum dan hak asasi manusia (HAM), mulai dari sejarah dan filosofi HAM, bantuan hukum dan akses terhadap keadilan, rule of law dan reformasi hukum, pemberdayaan hukum masyarakat, hak untuk hidup, HAM dan HIV/AIDS, dan banyak lagi. Summer Internship tahun 2011 adalah kali ketiganya diselenggarakan.<p>PERSYARATAN:<br>1. Mahasiswi/a segala jurusan.<br>2. Memiliki minat di bidang bantuan hukum dan HAM.<br>3. Mengumpulkan tulisan singkat dengan tema sebagai berikut:<br>* Apa pendapat kamu tentang penegakan hukum di Indonesia? atau<br>* Apa pendapat kamu tentang penegakan HAM di Indonesia?<br>Ketentuan tulisan: diketik dengan font Times New Roman 11, spasi 1, 600 – 800 kata.<p>Kirimkan CV, surat aplikasi dan tulisan ke <a href="mailto:contact@lbhmasyarakat.org">contact@lbhmasyarakat.org</a> atau ke LBH Masyarakat di Tebet Timur Dalam III B, No. 10, Jakarta Selatan 12820, paling lambat Jumat, 17 Juni 2011. Untuk informasi lebih lanjut dapat menghubungi LBH Masyarakat di nomor 021-830 54 50<p>Tentang LBH Masyarakat:<br>LBH Masyarakat menyediakan bantuan hukum secara pro-bono kepada masyarakat kurang mampu dan terpinggirkan, serta menyelenggarakan pemberdayaan hukum masyarakat di komunitas marjinal. Selain itu, LBH Masyarakat juga aktif memajukan reformasi hukum dan perlindungan hak asasi manusia di Indonesia melalui kampanye publik dan advokasi kebijakan.<p>Silahkan disebarluaskan.<p>---Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-11674538544785641962011-03-16T12:45:00.001+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.261+07:00on recent issues and such..<i>I'm going to use the idle hours on my first day at the Corruption Eradication Commission (aka KPK) to blog. Yay me!</i><br />
<br />
so i'm waiting for this meeting between KPK and seven NGOs including Transparency International Indonesia and the Indonesia Corruption Watch, who are going to push the Commission to investigate graft allegations regarding the <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/house-presses-ahead-on-new-office-building/427099">construction plan </a>of a new office building for the House of Representative. (yes i'll be covering KPK and anti-corruption courts after more than a year at the Jakarta desk).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/indonesia/bidding-for-new-dpr-building-dismissed-as-faked/428997">Two days ago</a> the House opened the tender but it was quickly followed by criticisms since apparently, the winner, a state-owned company, was already chosen.<blockquote>The tender was advertised in a local newspaper on Sunday, inviting contractors to bid on individual packets in the Rp 1.2 trillion ($136.8 million) project.</blockquote>And even though members of the House were supposed to be representatives of the public, they made little discretion on the details of the new office and the process of the planning itself.<br />
<br />
In the meantime I entertain myself by pointing out the grammar mistakes in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/letter-in-response-from-tomy-winata-20110315-1bvuf.html">Tomy Winata's response</a> to the Sydney Morning Herald on WikiLeaks' <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/tomy-winata-denies-wikileaks-allegations/429084">allegations </a>that he had been channeling funds to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<br />
<br />
By the way some thirsty-for-fame lawyer, Habibburahman, is attempting <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/australian-papers-sued-for-1-billion-over-wikileaks-claims/429108">to sue the papers</a> $1 million for ruining "the pride of a nation because what they have done has given [Indonesia] a reputation of a corrupt country", the same guy also <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/health/smokers-set-to-challenge-regulations/428272">planning to submit</a> a judicial review request of a gubernatorial decree banning in-door smoking in Jakarta to the Supreme Court.<br />
<br />
They are also holding a press conference today alleging the government for ignoring the welfare of clove-cigarette workers over public health. (!!)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-61978890118941936732011-02-01T21:58:00.001+07:002012-02-24T18:58:58.442+07:00This year I celebrate my birthday a day earlier..It was 11.30 p.m., we were having pillow talks and about to go to bed. He asked me where do we keep our flashlight, I told him that I had put it on the shelf above the kitchen sink.
<br>
<br>After a while I asked him if he wanted me to turn off the lights. He said yes.
<br>So we lied on the bedding sheet and bamboo mat that we called 'bed'. We were still talking, and then he got up, "I want to go to the bathroom."
<br>
<br>There were the sound of a light switch turned on, followed by the kind of sound that men made when they pee, running water, a flush, another click from the light switch, the sound of a fridge being opened, and the rustle of plastic bag.
<br>
<br>And then..
<br>
<br>He opened the door, he was holding the flashlight on his left hand, on his right hand a mini oreo cheese cake, and he sang, "Happy birthday to you.."
<br>
<br>I sat upright! Surprised! I was astounded..that I can't control the words that rolled just like that from the neurons of my brain, the muscle of my tongue, and mouth, as I said to him, softly, "but honey..my birthday is tomorrow.."
<br>
<br>(True story).
<br>
<br>We had a good laugh afterwards while we finish the cake xD
<br>
<br>And still laughed whenever that night crossed our minds..
<br>
<br>But it's true, it made me feel that my birthday was actually on Jan 31 :p so the night before my birthday I slept early, knowing that the birthday surprise was done and over with xD
<br>
<br>This birthday I would like to thank God, for His endless blessings, for a healthy mind to think about His work, for a loving husband, for family near and far, for friends old and new, and to thank all of them above for spending a few seconds, minutes to call/sms/send a fb message/tweet/came to my desk/give a handshake/hug/kiss. God bless you all :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-81541541917229434272011-01-21T18:20:00.001+07:002011-01-21T18:20:26.117+07:00Standing on the sides of the world's inter-religious battle arena are atheists (usually taking part as the ruthless critics/commentators), and followers of traditional faith groups, minding their own business.<p>*lagibingungcarianglehabisinterview*Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-79607477916354963882010-12-27T22:04:00.001+07:002012-02-24T18:58:58.458+07:00The trip pt. 1Night train
<br>
<br>It was my first time aboard a local train after 8 years.
<br>
<br>I ws from Malang heading to Jakarta. Just graduated high school and about to leave the city where I spent my forlorn senior high.
<br>
<br>On Monday me and my husband decided to have a trip by train.
<br>
<br>A couple of hours later we were at the train station purchasing tickets and I felt a bit nervous. Perhaps because I wasn't used to going on a trip w/out making an itinerary list (our last Bali trip had it's own excel sheet w/ budget&trip details).
<br>
<br>And maybe I didn't hv that much trust with our PT Kereta Api. Especially when we get to the tellers we had to fill in a form, gave it to the cashier, and we had to use cash.
<br>
<br>Me personally dislike carrying a lot of cash. So, was a bit annoyed that we had to go to an ATM first and then went back to lady teller. And what's with the form? To avoid misunderstanding? Or weird accent? Indecisive customers maybe? Or everything was still done manually that the forms are used to confirm each transaction? Such a waste of trees!
<br>
<br>Anyways, we left the station, went home to pack, and came back an hour bfore our scheduled 8.45 pm train, the vibe was different.
<br>
<br>There were more people, more restaurant/eat-house waiters offering us their menu AND free internet!
<br>
<br>But we already decided to eat japanese fast food bfore we arrived, so...
<br>
<br>The compartment was clean, smells like disinfectant (which is good), plenty of space between chairs, there's even a blanket&pillow ..and in train magazine :D guess they're trying to keep up w the airlines tht offer more/less same fares.
<br>
<br>The train moved at exactly 8.44 pm. Now that's impressive :D
<br>
<br>Too bad we left at night. Can't see much outside. Oh and we finally finished our itinerary list for the next 5 days! Yay!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-64470568344332372632010-12-27T13:48:00.000+07:002010-12-27T13:48:21.047+07:00(almost) end-of-year thoughtsTonight me and iko are leaving for Jogja, we are going to have a week spent in C. Java. This is going to be a last minute vacation because we just decided a couple of hours ago.<br />
<br />
We're planning to visit Borobudur temple (the last time we visited the place was in the 1990s), and probably head to Wonosobo, or Solo, or stay in Jogja. Haven't decided :p<br />
<br />
On the morning of the 31st we're planning to take this "mountain railway tour" using an old train in Ambarawa, before heading back to the Big Durian via Jogja.<br />
<br />
Wish us luck :p<br />
<br />
Secondly, I've been questioning myself lately on whether or not I'd continue my work in journalism or go back to doing projects with NGOs. <br />
<br />
It's been more than a year since I started working as a reporter.<br />
<br />
There is the need to learn skills tips and tricks. I missed training sessions at the office but I've registerd myself for a training at PPMN (Indonesian Association for Media Development). And I read a book. Two days ago I bought Andreas Harsono's new book "'A9ama' Saya Adalah Jurnalisme". Very inspirational. <br />
<br />
With no basic education in journalism made me clueless about the "root" of journalism. Andreas' book was structured in a way that I can grasp the soul of journalism: the 9 elements of journalism, he then later described a few techniques and cases, and then as the book draws to the end, the topic climaxed to conflicts within journalism and reporting, investigative journalism, and ended with his view on the lack of media coverage in Papua.<br />
<br />
That was a very very rough review. I have to shower because we still need to pack and get the train tickets :p<br />
<br />
cheers!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-82033095132776569162010-12-23T20:37:00.001+07:002014-04-29T11:03:11.284+07:00killed articles goes to blog heaven (and so does cropped ones :p)Aside from my interview with the only female judge at the Constitutional Court, <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/judging-by-her-record-maria-farida-is-not-afraid-to-stand-out/370619">Maria Farida Indarti </a>(hv been promising myself that I would rewrite the interview as soon as I got the willingness), <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/suburbs-a-hotbed-for-religious-strife/386563">a feature on how religious conflicts started to sprung up in Jakarta's outskirts</a>, I should add this <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/radical-islamic-groups-gain-strength-on-the-sly-setara/413251">last one </a>on the list of my favorite pieces :D<br />
<br />
I have a few reasons:<br />
1. It was a very comprehensive research report and there are a LOT of interesting facts on how local radical organizations in greater Jakarta and West Java came into being. <br />
2. I think I was the only one who use that angle *smug*<br />
<br />
But yeah, the original was 885 words and edited version was 657.<br />
<br />
I'm gonna put the cropped part here (unedited), because to me it was interesting :p<br />
<b><br />
Political ambitions</b><br />
<br />
Bonar mentioned that the feeling of alienation and social frustration of the elites of these organizations also contributed to radical actions.<br />
<br />
"Chep from GARIS once allied with Yusril Ihza Mahendra from PBB. But he was disappointed at Yusril when he was elected as justice and human rights ministry and forgot about their original agenda, which was implementing sharia," he said.<br />
<br />
Ismail Hasani also added that even though FPI does not actively involved in political negotiations, Habib Rizieq were known to have established political deals.<br />
<br />
"He once wanted to make his own party, labeled it Islamic Revolution Party," he said.<br />
<br />
Chairman of FPI Jakarta Habib Salim bin Umar Alatas told the Globe that FPI does not support any particular political party.<br />
<br />
"However, we are open for discussions. People can sit down with us, and we will provide candidates with inputs," he said.<br />
<br />
According to Setara's report, during the 2009 elections, FUI and FPI had stated their open support for Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto for a promise that the pair would disband Ahmadiyah once they were elected. (<i>personal note</i>: one more reason to make me feel less guilty for voting for SBY :p)<br />
<br />
This was also confirmed by Habib Salim.<br />
<br />
"We supported [Jusuf] because there was a commitment between us. We would support whomever if they committed to disband cults and uphold [Islamic] law," he continued.<br />
<br />
<br />
Sekian and Happy Holidays! :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-51721791396448527472010-12-10T22:43:00.001+07:002010-12-10T22:43:56.581+07:00A dear friend pledged a 365 days of writing at <a href="http://elvinpriyadi.blogspot.com">http://elvinpriyadi.blogspot.com</a>. Right after she killed her twitter & facebook. (God bless her virtual identities). Please drop-by and comment on her posts while checking her progress.<p>She told me she timed herself, 15 minutes for every story ideas. So they weren't edited (here I am apologizing on behalf of her. Coz she's very dear to me, yes).<p>Hopefully she wouldn't stop before she even reached half-way like another friend of mine here --> @freudian83 aka www dot anitarachman dot com, who pledged a 365 days w/out shopping and failed :p<br>(the latest blog post proves it!)<p>But at least she still regularly blogs, unlike me. <p>I was thinking of making this a heaven for killed articles..as suggested by @prameshwarii and @nivellism. But.. I'm too lazy to do that xD<p>Anyways yeah, I'm typing this in a taxi cab going to my sister-in-law's place in Harapan Indah, Bekasi.<br>And we've arrived.<br>I'll race you to the door!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-85675911368210077932010-11-20T09:17:00.002+07:002010-11-20T09:43:26.952+07:00Dad's quick calculation on QurbanVia Dompet Duafa aprrox 25 K (25000 equivalent goats)<br />
Via Qurban Act 2 K, <br />
Direct slaughtering (in mosques, do-it-yourself etc) 25 K<p>Total 52 K or say 60 K goats.<br />
Muslims per ID Cards in Indonesia 80% of 200 M = 160 M. <br />
Take top 10 % who should make up as the rich (the haves), 16 M muslims .<br />
Now, assume 5 members in one rich muslim family, then there were 3200 K of rich muslim family in Indonesia. <br />
This was compatible with 100 K family went to Mekkah per year for 32 years (year 1978 - 2010)<p>Conclusion: Only one goat for every 50 rich muslim family.<p>Am I missing something, here ????????????????<p>OR<p>Most the haves were enlightenend and they always help the haves-not by direct financial assistance that is more effevtive than goat<br />
sacrificing in Idl Adha, glory be to GOD.<br />
<br />
Pulang sholat Ied di Bani Umar kemarin ayah ngitung-ngitung dari 10 sapi dan 50 an kambing terkumpul di mesjid<br />
yang megah dengan ratusan mobil parkir membawa ribuan orang kaya sholat Ied.<br />
<br />
10 sapi x 7 plus 50 - 60 an kambing adalah setara 150 keluarga yang<br />
berkurban di Bani Umar.<br />
<br />
Bila satu kambing bisa membahagiakan 10 orang (karena setiap orang menerima 1 bungkus), maka ribuan orang berkumpul di mesjid nan megah Bani Umar hanya sanggup membahagiakan 1500 orang (150 setara kambing<br />
kali 10 orang) yang jarang makan daging.<br />
<br />
Jadi buat kita yang tergolong mampu, maka ujian kita adalah CHARITY, bukan jumlah sholat atau puasa Ramadhan atau tahun kapan yang pas untuk Haji Akbar.<br />
<br />
Pls re-think .......Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-16223797642167321302010-09-16T12:52:00.001+07:002010-09-16T12:52:29.479+07:00"In the larger scheme of things, it doesn't matter if some ignorant person chooses to burn a book. It's just paper and ink. The Quran is the word of God. It's not the physical book that has any importance; it's the words contained in the book."
<br>(<a href="http://www.masjidtucson.org/current/burning_quran.html">http://www.masjidtucson.org/current/burning_quran.html</a>)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935142.post-60474291777024286042010-08-18T01:25:00.002+07:002010-08-18T05:11:00.302+07:00pur gunawan, the taxi driverFrom: @ulma_nh<br />
Sent: Aug 17, 2010 23:28<p>Our taxi driver is a 21 yo man with plenty experiences&knwldge of the city's undrworld :D<p>sent via Domikado<br />
On Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/ulma_nh/status/21415895575">http://twitter.com/ulma_nh/status/21415895575</a><p>His name, as he told me, was Pur Gunawan. I'm not sure if it's the correct spelling or whther I misheard him but it was too dark anywy to check his ID. So let's jst call him Pur.<p>Pur drove us (me & iko) from Setiabudi One to our place in Radio Dalam on Tuesday night. Iko&his colleagues had to work on stuffs&they chose to do it at Anomali Coffee (just opened. Nice place). I joined a bit later after work & the whole gaiety with fellow Globians celebrating the Independence Day.<p>We left the cafe a couple of minutes before 11 p.m., or before the baristas hv 2 kick us out. Pur was outside with his "Manuk Mira" taxi, which most of the time we wud avoid whn going alone.<p>Pur was very chatty :D iko went silent the whole time. We were tired but I kinda feel obligd to ask him q's :p<p>He claimd that he nvr went to school. Pur has been living on the streets since he was little. That's where I started to get interested.<p>He told me that first he started off as a child busker, then a 3-in-1 jockey before becoming a metro mini bus driver, and then finally a taxi driver.<p>"I've just turned 21. My birthday was the same day as the start of Ramadhan this year," he said. Then he began citing the famous people he knew that were also August-born, including SBY and Marshanda.<p>When he was a jockey he was caught 3 times by the Police. <p>"They sent me to Kedoya [social institution] twice. The third time they got me they sent me away to Cirebon," he said.<p>The Police gave him Rp 20,000, which he used it to buy a bus ticket back to Jakarta :p I bet that's the same story for beggers&buskers netted by our dear friend Satpol PP. He also referred Kedoya as a prison, because he was locked up all the time.<p>He said that he hv friends who once sent to Cipinang for drug-dealing. <p>"They treated them bad. Every three days or so they got beaten up by the prison guards," he said.<p>At least the positive side is, that story has deterred him from anything drug-related.<p>I won't say much about his regular customers. Let's say he's familiar with that other side of Jakarta. Oh he could speak a little bit of Arabic too.<p>In the end I concluded that Pur was amongst the few bright n lucky ones. I believe that not that many unschooled child buskers could end up as a taxi driver with about Rp 3 million a month.<p>I didn't ask him what he would want to be when he's bored with taxi-driving..as we finally reached our destination.<p>But I did save his phone number.. just in case I need him for a story..or just in case ;)<br />
<br />
Update: iko's take on Pur..<br />
From: @ikoputera<br />
Sent: Aug 17, 2010 23:40<br />
<br />
Ini supir taxi kaya' wikipedia, detail obrolan bs dikembangin jd topik baru<br />
<br />
sent via ÜberTwitter<br />
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/ikoputera/status/21416789560<br />
<br />
Lol...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11862721569301909271noreply@blogger.com4